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Micro Goals VIP - Commentary

Hello and welcome to the commentary lesson for Micro Goals.

First, I want to talk about the lessons and a few new things, some small changes in our lessons for this month. Then I’ll talk more about micro goals.

You may have noticed that the Mini Story this time was a little bit longer. It’s somewhat longer and more detailed to give you more listening practice. I still ask questions in the story as usual but I also had some extra statements, extra information and extra details in the story so that you can see the story more clearly. You can enjoy the story more.

As usual, pause when you hear questions and answer the questions out loud. You can answer with just one or two words. That’s fine. If you don’t want to pause, just shout your answers or say your answers out loud as the audio continues. It’s up to you. Let me know. Tell me if you enjoy the longer Mini Stories more with more information, or do you prefer to keep them very short, just with the questions? Hopefully you enjoyed this story. The Point of View is basically the same. I retell the story again using several different timelines.

This month I gave you this idea of a timeline to picture in your mind the future going in front of you and the past behind you. You can see different events. In this case, you can see the story at a certain point in the future. With your mind you can move back behind that time or ahead of that time. It’s helpful because it’s a natural way to get a feeling for grammar.

I’ll continue to help you with timelines sometimes in our Point of View stories. As usual, just listen to the different versions of the stories – the regular Mini Story version and the Point of View stories. Sometimes in the Point of View stories, I might add a little bit of extra information about the story and that’s fine too.

Another thing that you’ll notice this month is that we have a meditation. The meditation lesson is really for you to listen to at night. It’s an additional kind of lesson and it’s not focused on English so much. It’s more focused on your mind, about programming your unconscious mind. The purpose of this lesson is to train your unconscious mind so that you learn the important beliefs, skills and strategies very deeply. You learn them deeply.

This is an extra lesson, an optional lesson. I recommend that you listen to the meditation when you go to bed, just before you sleep. The meditation is very calm and relaxing. Just lie down, turn off the lights and listen to the meditation before you sleep. You can also listen to the meditation lesson anytime you want to relax, so enjoy the meditation lesson.

Finally, in the commentary, let’s talk about micro goals some more. This is a nice little topic. I really want you to use this strategy. As I said in our main lesson about micro goals, micro goals are especially useful when you use them during tough times. As a situation becomes more difficult, more painful or tougher or when it becomes more of a struggle, your focus needs to become more and more on the present moment, shorter and shorter and shorter.

When you’re feeling great and feeling wonderful, that’s the time to dream big. That’s the time to think about the future, the far future. What do you want to see? What do you want to be? What do you want to achieve in the next five years or 10 years or during your whole lifetime? Think about that when you feel good. Think about that when you feel wonderful. Think about that when you feel really great. That’s when you think about your big dreams. It’s easy then to think about wonderful big dreams.

Of course life is not always easy. Sometimes in life things are very tough, the situation is tough and it’s very hard. During those times, you want to focus shorter, more in the present moment or the short-term future just a little bit ahead of you. This is how we work emotionally. This is the way our mind works.

Sometimes when you’re feeling bad, it’s okay to think about your big dream. Remind yourself that it’s very tough now and it seems very far but I have a dream. Of course you want to continue to remember the big dream and remember your big goals. In fact, I recommend that you review your big dream every day. Review your big goals every day. Certainly do that.

When things are tough, you also need to focus more on the short-term though. Yes, you’ll review your big goal every day and when things are tough you need to do something else.

When you’re really having a hard time in life, sometimes that big long huge dream that’s far away in the future can make you feel bad because you’re struggling and it’s so tough.

Sometimes you look and it seems so far ahead. I’ll never do it.

That’s what our mind does to us sometimes. These kinds of thoughts come into our head sometimes when we’re feeling bad, when life is tough. That’s why when life is tough and difficult it’s very useful to just think about what’s the next step? That’s a great question that you can always ask yourself.

Think of your dream. When you think of your dream if it feels too far, just put it to the side for now and think about what is the next step right now? What can I do right now? What’s the next step? What’s the step today? What do I need to do today? Forget about next month. Forget about next year. What do I need to do today? Focus on that little tiny micro goal.

At the beginning of the day in the morning, write down today I must do this one little thing and then you do it. Take that one little step. The next day if it’s still tough, if you’re still struggling and it’s still hard then you say what’s the next step? What’s the step today? You write it down and you do it that day. That’s one more step taken.

You keep doing that step by step until things get easier. Again, life will also get easier eventually.

When it’s easy you don’t need these micro goals so much. I should say that too. You don’t always need micro goals. When things are going well and you feel great, when everything is happening fast and you seem to be improving very fast, you’re improving very quickly, you feel fantastic. You’re learning very quickly. You notice your improvement every day.

When you feel that way, micro goals are not so necessary. You can just focus on next month or next year because you have momentum. You have energy that’s moving you forward, so it’s easy to take big steps. It’s easy to dream big. It’s easy to believe. When things are great, big goals, big dreams – that’s what you focus on – big steps and big improvements. Then as things get harder and as there’s more of a struggle, you focus on micro goals, little goals, short goals, one week, one day and when it’s really, really tough maybe even one hour. I’m just going to get through this. I’m just going to accomplish this one little thing this hour.

In this way, you have a kind of control, a kind of rhythm, which is very good for your life. Then you change your goal focus. You change your goal setting. You change your approach based on the situation of your life, based on your emotional strength, how strong you feel, how good you feel, how fast you’re learning.

You adapt. You’re not just doing the same thing constantly. Maybe it’s working and maybe it’s not. No, you’re adaptable. You’re flexible. This is a very powerful way to be. This is how you get the fastest improvement. This is how you become tougher and stronger. This is how you really achieve your dreams.

It’s a kind of rhythm, a play with your goals. What are you focusing on right now, or in the next hour, or just today, or this week, or this month, or this year or five years from now, or 10 years from now or even farther? You’re going to have a big master plan as I mentioned, but then each day when you wake up in the morning, which one do you focus on?

You remember your big goal of course, but then what are you going to focus on most that day?

It depends on your life. It depends on how you feel. If you’re not feeling very good, if you’re feeling tired and not motivated and everything seems kind of tough, then focus on a micro goal and make that your focus. It might be one week from now, or one day or if things are tough, one hour.

If you wake up and you feel fantastic – I feel great, whoo-hoo – you’re playing your power music, you’re jumping around, you have a lot of enthusiasm and you have tons of energy, you know in your heart that you’re succeeding, well then focus on something big. Use that big energy. Use that happiness. Use all that movement. Focus on a big goal or big goals and your big dreams.

Then you can adapt each day, each week and each month. You’re changing your focus a little bit and that’s what gets you through. That’s what gets you the best results. Flexibility, adaptability – there’s this great incantation that I use. An incantation is like a phrase that you repeat that gives you power. You don’t just repeat it. You repeat it with strong emotion.

One of my favorites comes from the U.S. Army or the Marines. I saw it in a movie once. I’m not a military person at all but I liked the chant. I liked the phrase because it’s useful in all parts of life. It’s just three words – improvise, adapt, overcome.

I like the spirit of that. Improvise means to be flexible, change. It means if there’s a problem, you try one thing. If it doesn’t work, you try something creative. Try something different. Be flexible and don’t just do the same thing all the time. You can change. You’re flexible.

Adapt has the same idea. Adapt means to change your actions. Change your mind. Change your emotions. Change your focus with the situation. If the situation is very tough, you focus more on the short-term. If the situation is really big and there’s a big opportunity and you feel strong, focus on bigger and longer term. Adapt, change with the situation.

Overcome means you defeat problems. You defeat challenges. Go through walls and achieve success. Improvise, adapt, overcome – that’s what micro goals are about. They’re about getting you through the tough times, overcoming the tough times. The flexibility, using big goals and micro goals – that’s about improvising and adapting.

Improvise, adapt and overcome. You are a powerful person and you have the power inside you.

By using your focus in a skillful way, by being intelligent with your focus, by noticing how you feel and noticing if things are tough now or am I doing great, and then using these different kinds of goals and using a different focus depending on the situation, you will get through problems. You will overcome. You will be successful.

You will be triumphant. Remember that word? It means super successful and victorious.

Triumphant is a strong word. Victorious is a strong word, a lot of strong powerful emotion. It’s more than just winning. It’s more than just being successful. It has the idea of being happy, excited and really winning big – triumphant. Be triumphant.

See you next month.